


Man Among Men

by Chia_P



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-10 20:26:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8937952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chia_P/pseuds/Chia_P
Summary: After seeing how Tetora's treatment of Chiaki negatively impacts his friend, Kuro decides to confront Tetora about his actions.





	

Kuro watched Tetora's foot slide into the next stance of his form. It was rushed and sloppy. His legs were not at the right angles, and there was more weight on his left foot than there should be. The Karate Club captain had been observing the lack of precision and mindfulness in the first year's moves for several minutes. Normally, he would have intervened a few minutes ago, reminding the boy of the importance of focus and patience, but things were a little difficult today. The older boy would have been willing to bet money that he knew the root of the problem.

~~~

As he had been leaving Akatsuki's practice the night before, he saw a guy sitting on one of the benches. The guy was bent over with his head in his hands, and it was only as Kuro grew closer that he recognized a familiar mop of brown hair. Kuro sighed as he made his way to sit next to his long time friend. He hadn't seen Chiaki look like this in a while. Truth be told, if this scene had taken place a couple years ago, his shoulders would have probably been shaking instead of just slumped, and Kuro would have been hearing choked cries instead of the occasional sigh as he moved to sit next to Ryuseitai's leader in relative silence.

Kuro leaned forward, knowing he'd have to be the first to speak. “So...rough practice?” He ventured.

Chiaki let out a weak chuckle. “I don't know... I mean, practice was fine it's just...” Chiaki moved to sit up and stare at the darkening sky. “Maybe communication is difficult...”

“Tetsu is being a brat again then?” Kuro looked up at him with a concerned expression.

Chiaki's laugh was more genuine this time as he finally turned to face his friend. “I suppose that's one way you could put it. I thought we were doing well for a while, but he seems really frustrated and hostile sometimes, and I don't know what I'm doing wrong.” 

Kuro sat up and shrugged. “You might not be doing anything wrong. Sometimes other people just get upset because of their own issues and not something that someone else did.” 

“He went off on me again today, and I hate to say that I don't know how much of this I can take. It seems like he can't stand me, and I'm the only one...” Chiaki's voice broke at the end of his sentence.

Kuro was afraid that his friend might actually be on the verge of tears. This had been going on for a while, and everyone has their breaking point. The usual energy Chiaki had when he was frustrated with something that would cause him to speak loudly or gesticulate wildly was gone. The brunet just sounded tired. The taller boy tried to reassure his friend again. “Like I said, the way people treat you can sometimes be much more about them than about you. It doesn't make it feel any better though.”

“Yeah...” Came his weak reply as brown eyes shifted to look back down at the ground. 

Even with his friend's downcast look, Kuro was relieved to see that there were no tears forming in the corners of his eyes. Chiaki had really grown a lot these past few years. “Hey, do you want me to talk to him?”

“What would you even say?”

“The truth.” Kuro smirked. “I think he knows what he's doing isn't right, but knowing and discussing it with someone else are two different things.”

“Ah, ok. That might help...I don't really know, but it's worth a try.” He managed a weak smile and ran his right hand nervously through the back of his hair.

“In the meantime, you,” Kuro nudged his friend's shoulder with his own, “stop blaming yourself for things you can't control.”

Chiaki's smile grew a little wider. “Thanks.” He nudged the larger boy back. After a pause, he added, “You're a good friend, y'know.”

The redhead smiled back at him. They sat in companionable silence for a moment before each getting up to head home.

~~~

Kuro watched as his underling slid into a very shaky stance. He rose from where he had been seated cross-legged on the floor and silently moved behind the first year. He placed a hand between Tetora's shoulder blades and gave him a moderate push.

The younger boy wobbled, stumbled forward, tripped on his own foot, and fell on his face. It was definitely a sight to behold. He had never been this out of sorts in the dojo before. He groaned as he moved to sit up and stare at Kuro. “What was that for, Taisho?”

The third year looked down at him. “I'm pretty sure you know what it was for, Tetsu. If you'd had a solid stance, I wouldn't have been able to knock you over. Your forms have been sloppy today. Why is that?”

“Well, I...uh...” Tetora mumbled, suddenly finding the mat he was sitting on to be quite interesting.

“You what? Speak up, Tetsu. And look at me.” Kuro thought it was best to make his underling say in his own words what had happened rather than bringing up the version he had heard.

The smaller boy shifted and reluctantly turned his eyes to meet those of his captain. “I'm just frustrated, I guess...” 

“What's frustrating you?” The redhead was trying to leave his posture open so this wouldn't feel like such an interrogation. His message would probably not stick if Tetora was already angry and defensive when hearing it.

“It's...” Tetora began slowly, “more like a who...” When Kuro showed no sign of intending to fill in the blanks or even speak, he continued. “It's my unit leader. He can just be...really frustrating at times.”

Now they were getting somewhere; the older boy urged him to explain more. “Oh? How so?”

Tetora puffed out his cheeks in frustration as he thought of all the ways Chiaki could annoy him. “He's very loud and boisterous and touchy-feely. He's just an all around pain!”

The taller boy put a hand to his chin in thought. “Hmm. I see...and, how do you react when he does those things that bother you?”

“I...” The black haired boy paused, scratching the back of his head. He was beginning to realize that neither of them would like his answer. “I yell at him a lot. I tell him he's annoying or hogs the spotlight.”

Kuro couldn't hold back his lecture anymore, but he decided to try to not lay it on so thick at first. He really wanted it to sink in. “Do you really think he hogs the spotlight? From what I saw, he put on an entire live show just to introduce you and the other new members.”

“Well, he, um...” The first year was getting flustered. The person he looked up to the most was staring down at him and talking to him about how he mistreated someone else. He began to feel embarrassed not because he had done something bad but rather because his Karate Club captain knew about it and did not approve.

“Speak clearly, Tetsu.” The redhead took a deep breath. “Tell me more about what he does that upsets you.”

His underling was rushing through his thoughts to try to find the laundry list of things that his unit leader did that annoyed him to no end. “He gets these harebrained schemes and does weird stuff. He's so obsessed with tokusatsu and heroes. I can't stand it.”

“And, in return, you yell at him and say mean things about him? You say he's loud, but has he ever raised his voice at you out of anything other than excitement?”

Tetora couldn't help but look down again. “No, he hasn't.”

Kuro didn't bother to ask him to look up again and instead moved further into his lecture. “Has he ever said a single mean word to you or about you?”

“No, never.”

“So, why do you do it to him?”

The younger boy clenched his fists into his uniform pants, bunching up the fabric. “I just...I just get so frustrated, and I end up taking it out on him.”

“Morisawa can't be your scapegoat and verbal punching bag for when things don't go your way.” The Karate Club's captain was finally ready to deal the blows that would hopefully knock some sense into his stubborn junior. “I'm disappointed in your lack of discipline.”

“But I-”

“Are you about to try to tell me that you are actually disciplined?” From how his underling curled in on himself, Kuro knew that his piercing gaze could still be felt, even without eye contact. There was no talking his way out of this one for Tetsu.

“Well I...”

Kuro didn't wait any longer than a single beat for a justification he knew the other boy would not be able to find. “Discipline isn't just something you have in the dojo. It flows through your whole life, impacting everything you do. Both discipline and awareness are essential, and they can not stay at the dojo when you leave, just waiting here for when you get back.”

“But Taisho!”

“No arguments, Tetsu. You always say you want to be a 'man among men,' but saying it doesn't do much. If you wanna be it, you gotta live it. Now would be a good time to start. Take responsibility for your actions and how they impact other people. You are dismissed for the day.”

Tetora bit his lip. He stood carefully, adhering to procedure and stepping back as he got to his feet. He bowed out, trying-and failing-to keep his voice from cracking with emotion as he yelled to signify his departure. 

~~~

That night, Tetora tossed and turned in bed, mulling over all that his senior had said. The shame of having Kuro disappointed over something he had done was beginning to morph into guilt for how he treated his unit leader. Earlier, he had considered apologizing to Chiaki to please Kuro, but now he wanted to do so because he really did owe it to the brunet. Chiaki always greeted him with a smile and did his best to look out for Tetora. Apologies weren't his strong suit at all, but he was going to do his best the next time a good opportunity arose.

~~~

The following evening, the black haired boy found his chance. Chiaki was lagging behind the others, putting away the audio equipment they had used during practice. The younger boy shuffled his feet as he debated whether or not he should really say something now. He had taken care to not mouth off or say something mean that afternoon, but he knew that wasn't enough. He tentatively moved toward the older boy.

Chiaki, as eccentric and frustrating as he could be, had done a lot for him, and he knew he had been ungrateful. He really, really wasn't good at talking about these things though. He also didn't want to try to say something meaningful only to be met by the really energetic and frustrating side of his senior, but he kept thinking about it and watching Chiaki push through everything and try to help everyone and just felt a little bad for how things had gone, especially when the brunet got sick while looking for him. Tetora finally went over to the brunet, who was busy making sure the equipment was in order before leaving. The younger boy took a deep breath and awkwardly started to try to say something. He watched his unit leader jump a little in surprise, since he probably thought Tetora had left with the others.

Chiaki looked up at the black haired boy and saw the uncomfortable and solemn look on this face. He tried to ask him what was wrong right as Tetora began to talk again. They cut each other off, but Chiaki smiled encouragingly, giving Tetora room to speak. 

"I...wanted to apologize for how I acted before. You were trying to include me and working hard to help us, and I was really...ungrateful." Tetora shuffled uncomfortably. He felt guilty and a bit anxious over how his leader might react. He'd never known the older boy to be unkind though, which only made him feel even more guilt.

He had no idea what Chiaki would say or do and was caught off guard when the brunet patted the floor beside him and told Tetora to sit down. Tetora nervously obeyed, with a hint of confusion beginning to show on his face. Situations like this had him really out of his element, and he just couldn't stop thinking about how unprepared he was. 

Chiaki turned from where the sound equipment was to fully face him. His unit leader smiled gently and said, "It's ok. I don't think that being upset over your place in this school is uncommon at all."

Tetora just looked at him questioningly, wondering where this would lead. Thankfully, Chiaki continued, "Everyone deals with expectations not being met and dreams not working out in different ways." He shook his head. "Yumenosaki is definitely not an easy place to go to school. To be honest, there were a lot of times in my first year when I really wasn't ok. I didn't cope well with things that came up for me."

"You didn't?!" Tetora broke in, "but you're always so..." He trailed off, thinking of how it might have been better to listen. Taisho sometimes reminded him of how important it was to be quiet and focus on what someone else had to say.

To his relief, Chiaki just laughed and smiled gently. "I wasn't always though. People and attitudes change. You came to talk to me because yours did, right?"

Tetora moved his gaze to scrutinize the wood floor. "Yeah, I'm sor-" He stopped mid sentence when he felt a warm hand on his shoulder. 

"You don't need to apologize again. You didn't need to apologize the first time either, but it means a lot to me that you did. I'm here to be your team leader-to support you and do my best to help you grow. Being a hero doesn't mean not making mistakes or getting caught up in your emotions over things that can't be changed. Heroes sometimes get so focused on one mission that they miss or ignore others. There's no script to tell us what we need to do to save the day, so we do our best. You will always be learning new things about yourself and better ways to deal with issues when they do arise. You've grown a lot since I met you, and I'm really proud of you."

Tetora was speechless. He had no idea how to respond. He didn't realize he was moving toward his senior until he was already being wrapped in a comforting hug. As he began to cry, Chiaki started rubbing his back and whispering words of comfort. The younger boy didn't even feel ashamed about being moved to tears. He finally realized what he had probably known deep down for a long time: Chiaki would care about him and support him no matter what. The brunet held him for a few more minutes, not seeming to care about the tears falling onto his clothes. Tetora's feelings of guilt were dissipating and being replaced with ones of gratitude. In that moment, he truly began to feel like he couldn't have asked for a better unit leader.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope that I did them justice (no hero pun intended). Please let me know what you thought! I tweet @usanazunii and love to chat about EnStars! I also combine Texts from Last Night with Ensemble Stars @EnStarsFromLN


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